Hun Sen’s recent action to dissolve Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) is a gross violation of Cambodia constitution and the will of the Cambodian people. This action is grossly against the spirit of Paris Peace Agreement. His move is to bolster his dictatorship. Beside of accelerating our petition to submit to the UNs during this December 10, 2017 of World Human Right Day, following are some tips to deal with a dictator.

A Checklist for identifying a dictator:
All dictators, past and present, follow a checklist of sorts to gain, and retain, power:
1. Frighten the population with talk of crime and social unrest, then present himself as the only person capable of protecting them.
2. Blame society’s ills on foreigners, immigrants and “others” who do not look, sound or act like himself and his core followers.
3. Control the mass media by disparaging any news outlet that is critical of his agenda.
4. Create distrust of the judicial system and any other governmental institution not under his direct control.
5. Indulge in character assassination against all individuals who oppose him.
6. Create his own narrative, with no regard to the truth, in order to obtain the adoration and unquestioning support of those sufficiently naive to believe him.

Domestically
1. Using our purchasing power to boycott all products supplied by the dictators’ family, patrons, and networks.
2. Avoiding to join any meeting or gathering by the dictator or his networks.
3. Increasing on non-complying, non-cooperative, and voting out of the dictator.

Internationally
1. Cutting all foreign aids
2. Imposing sanctions and economic embargoing
3. Cutting trade privileges and preferential duty free
4. Visa ban and asset/bank account freezing for all deposits of the dictator and his accomplice in those democratic countries

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 16 Kyodo – Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the dissolution of the country’s main opposition party, in a ruling made ahead of next year’s general election in which the party had been expected to do well.

The ruling, which was handed down by presiding judge Dith Munty after a day-long hearing, also banned 118 Cambodia National Rescue Party members, including party president Kem Sokha, from politics for five years.

The top court heard the case based on a complaint filed by the Interior Ministry, which alleges that Kem Sokha conspired with foreigners in trying to topple the government.

Kem Sokha was arrested in September in a case widely considered to be politically motivated and is expected to be tried later this month, while around half of the party’s lawmakers have fled the country, fearing arrest.

Soon after the ruling, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen hailed the decision, saying it will secure the stability, peace and sustainable development of Cambodia.

Hun Sen, the prime minister since 1985, making him the world’s longest-serving head of government, said all CNRP’s members and their supporters — excluding the party leaders banned from politics — could join his ruling Cambodian People’s Party or other political parties. He said a few dozen other political parties remained that can compete in the next election scheduled for July 29, 2018.

Hun Sen also said that in less than two weeks, the seats won by the CNRP in the last national general and local elections will be redistributed.

During the last general election in 2013, the opposition party won 55 seats in the 123-seat National Assembly, against 68 seats captured by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP, meaning all seats were won by those two parties.

The court hearing was held amid tight security to prevent CNRP supporters from protesting around the courthouse.

Following the decision, the CNRP issued a statement condemning the ruling, saying it ignored the will of more than three million Cambodians who voted for the CNRP.

The CNRP also said it will never recognize the ruling, and the CNRP remains legal as its members of the national parliament and those holding positions in local authorities were elected by the people.

Furthermore, the statement appealed to the international community to take action to rescue the opposition party so it can take part in a free and fair election next year, and to press for the immediate release of party leader Kem Sokha.

The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights issued a statement saying the move demolished the final pillar of Cambodian democracy and ushered in an era of de facto one-party rule.

“ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) called on international partners to cancel their engagement in next year’s national elections, arguing that the CNRP’s dissolution effectively robbed the vote of any legitimacy,” it said.

“The Supreme Court has hammered the final nail in the coffin for Cambodian democracy. Its decision not only leaves the country without its only viable opposition party less than a year before scheduled elections, but also completely undermines Cambodia’s institutional framework and the rule of law,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian parliament.

“One thing remains crystal clear: the CNRP was dissolved not for breaking any laws, but simply for being too popular and a threat to the ruling party’s dominance. Cambodia’s judiciary has once again proved that its main objective is not justice, but the furtherance of the Prime Minister’s personal prerogatives,” he added.

Analysis: Judge who will decide the fate of the CNRP is a trusted member of the CPP

The decision to preserve or to dissolve the country’s main opposition party will fall on Thursday to a judge listed as a member of the ruling CPP’s most exclusive committee, and whose close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen stretch back more than three decades.

Supreme Court President Dith Munty, who turns 76 today, is a member of the Cambodian People’s Party’s powerful permanent committee and was part of a trusted circle of advisers to the premier as the country rebuilt itself after the Khmer Rouge was ousted.

On Thursday, the court will consider a Ministry of Interior complaint seeking the complete dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party – the country’s largest opposition party and the only legitimate electoral threat to the CPP. While the government’s accusations that the CNRP – and its leader, Kem Sokha – colluded with the US to foment “revolution” remain unproved, numerous ruling party officials, Hun Sen included, have insisted the party’s guilt is a foregone conclusion.

As presiding judge of the hearing, Munty will be directly involved in making the final call.

But in the 19 years since the Supreme Court has been under Munty’s leadership, analysts say, it has failed to establish its independence from Hun Sen and his CPP – controversially deciding, among other things, to uphold a politically tinged incitement conviction against former opposition leader Sam Rainsy in 2011, as well as a defamation conviction against senior opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua in 2010.

“You could count on one hand the number of times a high-profile judicial decision has gone against the wishes of the country’s political leaders, which says a lot,” said Chak Sopheap, the executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

What’s more, she noted, it’s difficult to even criticise the court publicly thanks to legal provisions that make it a criminal offence to criticise a judicial decision with the aim of endangering “public order” or “an institution of the Kingdom of Cambodia”.

Sotheara Yoeurng, legal adviser at election watchdog Comfrel, said the Supreme Court’s reputation among the public and international community is particularly fraught when it comes to political cases.

“You can claim yourself to be neutral, but if the public knows you are a member of the ruling party, the public will not trust you,” Yoeurng said.

A former cadre of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, which helped overthrow Pol Pot with the help of the Vietnamese in 1979, Munty rose to prominence as deputy minister of foreign affairs under Hun Sen in the early 1980s, according to Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia.

In 1991, Munty was one of five Cambodian leaders who travelled to France in the premier’s entourage for the signing of the Paris Peace Accords with rival faction leaders Prince Norodom Sihanouk and Khieu Samphan.

He was appointed president of the Supreme Court in 1998 and has held the position since, in spite of laws that require judges to retire at age 60.

Despite keeping a low profile compared to other officials close to Hun Sen, Munty is listed as the number 15 official on the party’s elite permanent committee and a member of the central and standing committees on the CPP’s website.

His dual role as a party leader and an ostensibly independent judge “clearly creates a conflict of interest” for himself and the Supreme Court as a whole, said Kingsley Abbott, Southeast Asia legal adviser with the International Commission of Jurists.

“At an absolute minimum, the president should recuse himself from any role in relation to the case, as should any other judge if they have a similar position within the CPP,” Abbott said.

Indeed, Munty is not alone on the Supreme Court in his ties to the ruling party.

Cambodia’s opposition movement seeks US help amid crackdown

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives at Clark International Airport, north of Manila, Philippines Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017. Hun Sen is one of more than a dozen leaders who will be attending the 31st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Manila. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cambodia’s leader is destroying a political opposition movement that threatens his three-decade grip on power and he’s accusing America of plotting his downfall. An influential opposition figure is in Washington is wondering if she’ll get any help at all.

Prime Minister Hun Sen talks about nefarious U.S. designs to unseat him, but the United States rejects that claim as baseless. Experts say his attacks are driven by a fear of losing elections next year.

Opposition leader Kem Sokha is imprisoned and his party seems likely to be dissolved this week by Cambodia’s highest court. His daughter, a spokeswoman for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, is urging President Donald Trump’s administration to act quickly and try to salvage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

“Hun Sen thinks the world is not paying attention and that nobody is prepared to do anything about it,” said Monovithya Kem, who wants the United States to impose sanctions on Cambodian officials complicit in the crackdown.

Monovithya said about 20 lawmakers, out of the party’s 55 in the 123-member National Assembly, have fled Cambodia since Kem Sokha was arrested Sept. 3 and charged with treason, which carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Monovithya and her sister also fled, fearing arrest. The government accuses them of conspiring with the CIA.

It’s not unusual for Cambodian politicians to demonize the U.S. There’s fertile history to draw on.

U.S. secret bombing during the Vietnam War is often blamed for the rise of the Khmer Rouge, whose late 1970s genocidal rule killed one-quarter of the Cambodian population. After a Vietnamese invasion toppled the Khmer Rouge, the U.S. voted for a coalition including the former rulers to retain Cambodia’s U.N. seat instead of giving it to the Vietnam-backed government.

Since Cambodia emerged from civil war in the 1990s, however, the U.S. has been a more benign presence. Since 1991, it has provided $1.8 billion in aid for development and democracy promotion and $60 million in military assistance, U.S. government data show. Hun Sen’s eldest son was even educated at West Point.

But in recent years, the Cambodian leader’s relationship with Washington has become increasingly acrimonious. In that time, Cambodia’s reliance on nearby China, which avoids criticizing others’ human rights records, has intensified.

“U.S. influence in Cambodia is at an all-time low,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch in Washington.

He said the U.S. retains some power and leverage, particularly through voting rights at the World Bank and Asian Development Bank that provide aid for the impoverished country. America also is a big market for Cambodian textiles. Still, U.S. officials aren’t sure they can change Hun Sen’s calculus.

“Authoritarians don’t give up power easily,” Sifton said. “He still has China. He still has Vietnam. He still has ASEAN members who will stand beside him.” There are 10 members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose leaders Trump was to meet at a summit in the Philippines.

Through 32 years in power, Hun Sen has mastered how to sideline political opponents. In 1997, he ousted a co-prime minister in a bloody coup. In recent years, he’s used Cambodia’s pliant judicial system.

Recent Paradise Papers leak is another effort to freeze dirty money laundering by corrupt people around the world. The Panama papers were primary source of worldwide campaign to freeze and stop all those money laundering and this Paradise Papers are hoped to aide more effective steps to pro-poor advocate by the groups of Investigator Journalists.

Cambodia has been seen over 300 individuals including 25 businessmen found who have used this channel to launder their dirty money in Cambodia. As noted, starting from the top leader (PM) to many of his cohorts and other patronage elites/links, are believed to vastly launder money in foreign networks especially they are found on both Panama Papers and Paradise Papers. And the world is organizing a “Black List” for those corrupted.

Main reaction so far

Here’s a round of the key reactions so far to the first revelations in Paradise Papers:

US Senator Bernie Sanders has has attacked the billionaires and corporations exposed by the Paradise Papers. He said they showed how they “get richer by hiding their wealth and profits and avoid paying their fair share of taxes”.

Mel Stride, the financial secretary to the Treasury, said there were many “legitimate reasons” for using offshore trusts. After being asked an urgent question by Labour on the Paradise Papers he accused the opposition of creating an inaccurate picture of all people using such trusts as being “eye-wateringly rich” or tax dodgers.

Jeremy Corbyn has said the Queen’s tax affairs should be subject to the public inquiry his party has called for into tax avoidance. His office was earlier forced to clarify a statement from the Labour leader after he appeared to suggest the Queen should apologiseafter the papers revealed that part of her wealth was invested offshore. His spokesman said: “Jeremy did not call for the Queen to apologise, but said anyone who puts money into a tax haven to avoid paying tax should.”

Wisdom

Inner Strength

អ្វីដែលគេត្រូវមានគឺភាពជាប្រធានពីខាងក្នុង មានគោលបំណងមុតមាំចំបងដែលចាក់ប្ញស គល់ក្នុងតំលៃគុណធម៌ មានសមត្ថភាពបញ្ចុះ បញ្ចូល ភាពជំនាញរឿងកិច្ចការក្នុងប្រព័ន្ធ ផ្តើមកិច្ចការរហ័យ រឹងប៉ឹង មានក្រុមការងារដ៍ មានប្រសិទ្ធិភាព និងពលវសទ្ធាឬសទ្ធាមុះមុត ដែលញ៉ាំងអ្នកដ៍ទៃ អោយរក្សាអណ្តាតភ្លើង ឆេះជាប់ជានិច្ច។"What they must have are: inner mastery; a central, compelling purpose rooted in moral values; a capacity to persuade; skills in working within the system; a fast start; a strong, effective team; and a passion that inspires others to keep the flame alive." - David Gergen, Eyewitness to Power

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”